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What’s the Difference Between Front-end, Back-end, and Full Stack, Development?

As of June 2021, the total number of websites on the internet is 1.8 billion. And as a job responsibility, the people responsible for analyzing, coding, building, and maintaining those websites are web developers. Let’s find out Front-End vs Back-End vs Full-Stack development.

To survive this competitive market, website development has become a critical part of businesses. But are you aware of the different types of web development that one can seek or learn? If you’ve researched on the same you would know that this discipline is broken down into 3 concentrations: Front-end, Back-end, and Full-stack development. One has to hire full-stack developers to develop complex websites that full-functional.

To help our readers know the difference between the three, we’ve decided to write this read. It brings you the subtle or known difference between Front-end, Back-end, and Full-stack development. 

What is a Front-End Development?

As per the JavaScript development company, it is the part of your website that a user can interact with. Everything that you observe when you browse different websites on the internet, from colors and fonts to dropdowns and sliders, is made through the efficient combination of CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.

CSS

It’s an abbreviation for Cascading Style Sheets. It offers developers a precise and flexible way to create interactive websites.

HTML

The overall functionality and design of a website are coded using the HyperText Markup Language. The latest version of HTML was HTML 5.2 and it was released in 2017. It offers new tools aimed at enhancing web app development and offering better operability.

JavaScript

HTML offers static web pages while JavaScript is an event-based language that adds dynamic elements to it. Using this developers can access elements separate from the main HTML page and respond to server-side events.

What is a Back-End Development?

The back-end of a website is also known as its server-side. It consists of 3 primary things i.e. server that provides data on request, an application that channels it, and a database that stores and organizes this information.

For instance, when one is searching for a shirt on a website they interact with its front-end. Once they add an item to their cart and follow the check-out process, the information is stored in their database that resides on the server. After a few days, if a client wants to check their delivery status, the server can fetch their desired information from the server and present it on the front-end.

What is Full-Stack Development?

Developing a front and back end for a website has become a niche. This requires extensive work and therefore it’s common for developers to master any one end. If you observe it as a general rule, one would learn that this isn’t a practical solution. 

Yet, custom software development companies would at times hire MEAN stack developers who are proficient in both sides. These are the A-players of the game. They have expertise in the subject and can visualize a bigger picture. They can very well optimize the development process by predicting the hurdles that can cause functional problems. 

Learning one of one these different segments lets focus on what a front-end vs back-end developer can contribute to a project.

Front-End vs Back-End Development

Front-End Development

It’s the front-end developer’s responsibility to create an intuitive user interface supported by an immersive user experience. To achieve this target a front-end developer must have optimum knowledge of three languages being HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

In addition to being efficient with the preceding languages, one must be familiar with frameworks like AngularJS, ReactJS, Bootstrap, and more. These techs make sure that your content looks pleasing on the eyes no matter what device you use to access it. One has to also be familiar with libraries such as LESS and jQuery that offer packages of code to save development time.

One of the ongoing trends observed with job listings is the requirement for experience with Ajax. It offers techniques with Javascript that loads pages dynamically downloading the server data in the background. 

As a simpler analogy, a front-end developer has to perform interior designing for a house designed by a back-end developer. To do so they work with UI/UX designers and build wireframes and mockups to transform their imagination into reality.

Experienced developers can easily identify problems with user experience and provide suggestions to create a better and seamless design. One also has to follow the script that is being adhered to by other teams to achieve specific goals and needs. Offering what the client wants is of utmost importance.

Back-End Development

To make server, application, and database communicate with each other one has to use server-side languages. These include PHP, Python, .NET, Java, and Ruby. Along with this, you would need tools such as Oracle, MySQL, and a SQL server to find, change or present to the front-end as ordered by the customer. 

Various companies demand experience with the top PHP frameworks like Laravel, CakePHP, and CodeIgnitor for job openings. Apart from this, one would require experience with version control software such as CVS, SVN, or Git. 

It’s essential to feed clean, portable, and well-documented code into your web applications. Back-end developers use numerous other tools to do the same. But before they move forward with coding, they have to thoroughly understand what the stakeholders particularly want. It’s then that they can convert those needs into technical requirements and design the most efficient methods to map their business online. 

Skills Required for Full-Stack Development

As per Technource, Full-stack developers are a cocktail of the above two. They possess high back-end knowledge and know the ins and outs of server-side programming. They’re familiar with front-end languages and understand how the content will look like from a user’s perspective. In a nutshell, they can be termed ‘jack-of-all-trades’.

Irrespective of the project or clients or tools, full-stack developers should have a brief idea about everything that works well with a web application. This includes setting up Linux servers, Javascript applications, configuring server-side APIs, and creating the designs with CSS. Apart from knowledge of these tools, they are expected to recognize the server and client-side solutions. And present the pros and cons of implementing those solutions.

Having learned a lot about what these domains require in terms of knowledge and experience, let’s understand the pros and cons of the same.

Pros & Cons of Front-End Development

Pros

Quick Development

One should be thankful for the modern innovations and frameworks that this segment is faster to accomplish. Therefore the whole journey to the final product shortens.

Secure Environment

All the frameworks used for the same offer a secure coding environment. Due to the same, your code and website are secure irrespective of the browser.

Responsive

Due to the advent of the latest frameworks and techs, developers can now develop applications that work smoothly, fast, and respond well.

Easy to Learn

Front-end development offers techniques and tools that are easy to learn and implement. For instance, 90% of coding and design is done using HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Photoshop, so if you learn the same you can easily make a career in this field. And learning the same is simple enough. You can try tutorials from the web and you would be good to go.

Cons

Newer Tech

Front-end tech is comparatively new as compared to backend giants like Java and PHP. The main frontend component i.e. JavaScript has introduced not so long ago. This states that this segment of development is relatively new and is a major point of consideration for this division of the web development community.

Code Inflation

Every website at different time intervals requires customization – big or small. To customize the front-end one has to use frameworks that offer quick customization but inflate the codebase. While this defies the traditional ‘Do not repeat’ rule and is a huge drawback for front-end development.

Updates

While other new releases or updates for software might excite developers, front-end updates can prove to be a nightmare. This is because front-end updates can prove to be a disappointment at certain times. The sole reason is that the new updates can mess things up for you and if you don’t abide by the new version your app won’t be competitive as per modern standards.

Pros & Cons of Back-End Development

Pros

Compatible with Various Environments

Today companies like to deploy apps that work with different environments. For instance, many websites prefer operating on database servers while others install online apps on the cloud. Businesses today are also merging multiple hosting services to reap the benefits of improved scalability and capacity. This also helps programmers distribute the server-side load over multiple machines.

Suitable for Quick Information Sharing

As we learned above a website consists of 3 critical elements i.e. server, application, and database. Each user offers their information like login ID and password to interact with the platform. A sturdy back-end that has been developed following the right practices can be used for quick information and data sharing between different devices and from customers.

Needs Code Logic

To simplify development and maintenance, nowadays programmers keep a separate code logic and user interface. It’s a website’s back-end that consists of logic for the application. Therefore it needs an intelligently coded back end to seamlessly switch from one frontend to another.

Responsible for the User Experience

Your website’s success is highly dependent on the user experience that it offers to the users. Back-end performs all the necessary tasks to help your website function well. And the consistency of your backend will determine the UI provided by the website. There can be problems like website crashes, slow performance, and more. Vulnerabilities in the back-end can also make your site susceptible to hacks and compromise data. Therefore the same should be developed in a way that offers an uninterrupted experience.

Adds Functionality to the Front-End

Back-end code is what adds functionality to your front-end. For instance, to get a login approved one has to write code in the server-side programming language. A back-end collects values each time a user enters them and compares them with the ones stored in the database. Similarly, your back-end code adds utility and functionality to various forms, accounts, and profiles. So, without a sturdy back-end, your front-end won’t work as it’s intended to.

Cons

No Automation

One has to code every bit of the back-end and there are no specialized services that would take care of things for you.

Complex Programming

Programming a back-end isn’t an easy task. To code, the full back-end one would need years of experience with the same. Also, programming complex features can be a tedious task as your code should run efficiently on different platforms and devices.

Learning Curve

Back-end coding has a steep learning curve as compared to front-end. As server-side programming requires one to learn multiple things about database, application, and server the process becomes a bit cumbersome.

Pros & Cons of Full-Stack Development

Pros

Multi-Tasking

A full-stack developer experiences all the different stages of development. To do the same one needs to have experience in the back-end, front-end, QA testing, and UI/UX design. Hence, they possess a diverse range of skills.

Best Suitable for Small Projects

One has to invest in a development team and pay for everyone, but with a full-stack developer, one can develop budget-friendly websites. It can minimize costs for small projects.

Quick Results

The back-end and front-end developers are required to solve queries and bugs. With a full-stack developer, every problem can be solved at the same place.

Cons

Time Management

It can prove to be a tedious task to code the front and back ends of a website. A lot of workloads can pile up tasks over an individual and this can increase the risk of not meeting deadlines.

Implement Current Trends

A full-stack developer has to constantly update their knowledge with different tools, techs, and trends. It can be an arduous task to do so. This can result in poor website development or a lack of important features offered by your competitors.

Wrapping Up

This is a wrap on this read. We hope our blog offered you some perspective on the subject. Being a MERN stack development company we have extensive experience working with numerous web development services.